“I’ll tell you…if you…let me…go,” I wheezed out.
Vhulkar wrapped his long fingers around the locket and gave it a yank. He must have intended to rip the chain from around my neck, but the metal was stronger than he expected. All he succeeded in doing was sending me tumbling face-first onto the floor. My sudden drop made him lose his grip on the locket, and I squished the trinket beneath my shivering body.
The man leaped on top of me like a wild animal. His bony fingers shoved my collar out of the way and grabbed the back of the chain. He yanked the metal upward and shoved the locket against my windpipe. I choked and clawed at the necklace even as he tried to draw it over my head.
Only it wouldn’t work. The necklace wouldn’t move more than a few inches from the bottom of my neck. Every effort to pull the chain over my head only succeeded in yanking the rest of my body with it.
“Give it to me!” Vhulkar screamed as he continued his abuse of my throat. “Give me the necklace!”
“Stop!” I choked out as I grabbed the front of the necklace. “It’s not coming!”
Vhulkar dropped the necklace, and I fell flat on my face onto the hard floor. He climbed to his feet as I raised myself onto my arms and rubbed my throat with one hand. I could already feel the bruise forming on the flesh.
Vhulkar stumbled back, his dark eyes full of fury and confusion. “You lying wench! You are using your magic to keep me from that necklace!”
I managed to pull myself to a seated position and kept my hand wrapped around my throat as I glared right back at him. “I don’t have any magic! Maybe the necklace just doesn’t like you!”
He lifted his sneering lips and raised one hand, which he wrapped around his own bauble. “You will give me that necklace!”
My face contorted with agony as my muscles seized. I tried to twist my way out of the pain, but my body wouldn’t obey my mewling pleas.
Vhulkar wrenched his hand away from his magical bauble, and the stiffness vanished, but not the soreness. He stabbed a finger at my necklace. “Give it to me!”
Would could I do with the thing, even if it was magical? I could hardly lift myself onto one arm, while my other trembling hand reached for my necklace. The metal had a strange warmth to it as my fingers wrapped around the coils. I tried to draw the necklace over my head, but my success mirrored that of Vhulkar. The necklace refused to leave me.
I collapsed back onto the floor, breathing hard and with my muscles twinging with pain. “It won’t come.”
“It is yours! Take it off!” he screeched.
I shut my eyes and spoke through gritted teeth. “It’s not mine, and it won’t come off!”
“Then I will have your head if it means I will have that necklace!” Vhulkar screamed as he grasped his talisman. A heavy shadow emanated from between his fingers, and his hand vibrated.
The hellhound near the jerked its head like a broken toy before its hideous yellow eyes fell on me. My breath caught in my throat, and I tried to crawl away on my stomach. The creature growled and lunged at me, its jaws open and ready for a nice chomp of my head.
That’s when a shadow came up behind the beast, and a shimmering blade slammed down on its head. The weapon pierced the incorporeal skull and stabbed straight to the floor, pinning the beast to the dirt. The hellhound thrashed about, and I noticed Vhulkar tightened his grip on his talisman as his hand began to shake even harder.
The new attacker stood erect, and my heart filled with warm hope when I recognized the handsome visage of the king. His eyes seemed to glow slightly in the dim light, and his expression was a fierce battle of disgust and anger. He brushed his hand over his exposed arm and drew out the strange scales, and placed them in his knuckles.
The hellhound still writhed at his feet as he slammed his weaponized fist into the thing’s head. The creature let out a fierce yip before it dropped to the floor as a puddle of black ooze, which then vanished completely into the ground.
The king straightened and lifted his dark gaze to Vhulkar. The man took a step back and furiously rubbed his talisman. The darkness grew more intense, and I heard the faint echo of hellhounds from somewhere deeper into the tunnel system.
I stabbed a finger at Vhulkar’s chest. “His necklace! He’s calling more nethral!”
The king’s eyes widened, and he leaped at the man. He grabbed Vhulkar’s jewelry chain and yanked it. Vhulkar’s necklace didn’t have the same magical protection as mine and easily snapped, leaving the king holding his talisman.
“No!” Vhulkar screamed as he lunged at the king.
His Highness pointed the dagger at Vhulkar’s throat, and the man stopped dead in his tracks. The king studied the face of his foe, and his expression showed he didn’t like what he saw. “Vhulkar. You were banished from my realm for your rash experiments.”
“I-I only wanted to help your kingdom, Your Majesty!”
I snorted. “Help by taking over the forest…”
The king narrowed his eyes at the man. “Then you’re the one who’s been controlling the nethral and sending them to attack my people.”
Vhulkar swallowed hard as the color drained from his face. “I-I only wanted to show you the power of the nethral.”
